For public sector employees and other professionals who are bound by confidentiality and have a reporting obligation Report of concern to child welfare services

Public sector employees and other professionals bound by confidentiality may have an obligation to report their concerns to the local child welfare services. The reporting obligation only covers serious concerns: when there is reason to suspect that a child is being abused or subjected to other types of serious neglect, or when a child has demonstrated persistent, serious behavioural problems.

Who has an obligation to report their concerns?

The reporting obligation applies to all employees of public bodies and services. The reporting obligation also applies to employees of organizations or private businesses performing services on behalf of the public sector. In addition, several occupational groups are subject to a similar reporting obligation. This includes psychologists, nurses, dentists, midwives, physical therapists, employees of family counselling offices and marriage counsellors.

In which situations does the reporting obligation apply?

All public sector employees are bound by confidentiality. In addition, a wide range of professionals are also bound by profession-specific confidentiality obligations. The reporting obligation overrides these confidentiality obligations when one or several of the conditions of the Child Welfare Act have been met:

The reporting obligation applies when you have reason to believe

• that a child is or is at risk of being abused or subjected to serious deficiencies in everyday care or other severe neglect
• that a child is suffering from a life-threatening or other serious illness or injury and is not receiving medical examination or treatment
• that a child with a disability or special need of help is not receiving the treatment and training required
• that a child is or is at risk of being exploited for human trafficking

The reporting obligation also applies when a child is demonstrating severe behavioural problems in the form of severe or repeated crime, abuse of drugs or alcohol or other forms of distinct normless behaviour.

You must familiarise yourself with the conditions for reporting concerns to child welfare services and determine whether your obligation to report applies in your particular situation. Read more about the reporting obligation in the Child Welfare Ac and the circular on guidelines for administrative processing.

You have a personal responsibility to uphold your obligations in terms of confidentiality and reporting your concerns

You have a personal responsibility to uphold your obligations in terms of both confidentiality and reporting your concerns. Your place of work may have procedures in place, where your closest superior or someone else is the one who will formally submit the report. Even so, you have a personal obligation to make sure child welfare services are informed.

If the parents grant their consent, you can send the report of concern even if the conditions for an obligation to report are not satisfied.

If your concerns involve circumstances that are very serious, such as violence or sexual abuse, we recommend that you contact child welfare services to discuss how to proceed. Call child welfare services before you, if relevant, inform the child’s parents/guardians about your report.

The child welfare services will send a response within three weeks. We encourage you to contact the child welfare services if you do not receive a response within three weeks. When sending a report of concern from this website, you will receive a receipt with a reference number. You can use this reference number when contacting the child welfare services.